On Wed, 2009-09-02 at 20:20 +0100, Tamas Rudnai wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 6:47 PM, Herbert Graf <hkgraf@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> >
> > > Is it possible to upgrade either of my computers and if so, which
> > > component should I start with?
> >
> > You're laptop very unlikely, assuming it's not software.
> >
> > For the desktop, the easiest upgrade is a new video hard with HARDWARE
> > support for the codec you are trying to view, again, assuming it's not
> > software.
> >
> 
> I do not know what laptop is that -- OP was talking about an 18 month old
> Dell one, so I assume that is a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo or maybe an AMD. That
> should perfectly do with software codecs -- I have a Dell laptop (Core 2
> Duo) and have no problem even with the Matroska (MKV) codec, which
> compresses the HD movie to a very high density (a HD Ready movie fits into a
> single layer DVD). However, MKV needs a huge CPU power to uncompress and
> play the content -- unlike the H.264 which as far as I know was designed to
> be able to play on a less powerful embedded machine.

.mkv is a container, not a codec. Most mkv content is actually H264.

1080p can easily be too much for a Core or Core 2 if you're codecs
aren't great.

To the OP, download the KLite codec pack and try playing with the
included Media Player Classic.

TTYL

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